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Is Hiring a CPA Worth It?

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When it comes to dealing with your taxes, hiring a professional can provide value that will feel worth it at tax time in April, as well as throughout the year. Even if you have handled your taxes solo in the past, it might be time to weigh your ...

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I Earned HOW Much Last Year? The 6-Figure Mistake on My 1099 Form.

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Now I know how it feels to be paid like my favorite gynecologist, the world famous Dr. Dean, from the Millionaire Nurse Blog.   At least on a weekly basis. The reason I say that is because a couple days ago, after a long hard day at the office, I was immediately greeted by the Honeybee as I opened the door. And I instantly knew something was amiss because, usually, the only one to greet me -- or even acknowledge my presence -- when I come home from work is my dog, Major. That is, unless I'm bringing home dinner. Then the whole family suddenly gets sentimental -- at least until they pull the bags out of my hands. But I digress. Anyway, this time the Honeybee was waving in her hand a 1099-MISC from my employer that reported some bonus income they paid me last year for a patent I was recently awarded. "Have you been holding out on me, Len?" she asked, although I still had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "What are you talking about, Honeybee?" "Take a look at this!" And with that, she handed me the 1099-MISC form. Here's what I saw: Yep; that's $200,000 in the "other income" box. Naturally, the Honeybee wanted answers and she wanted them fast. And to tell you the truth, so did I. Of course, she wanted to know when my employer was going to pay us the other $198,000 that the 1099 form said I was entitled to. As for me, I just wanted to know how I was going to explain to the IRS that this was all one big mistake. Luckily, the fine print on 1099-MISC form explained what to do in case of an error. "If this form is incorrect or has been issued in error, contact the payer. If you cannot get this form corrected, attach an explanation to your tax return and report your income correctly." That's it. Simple! So I contacted my employer; it turns out the company was already aware of the error and a new 1099-MISC is now in the mail. By the way, in case you're wondering, the procedure is slightly different for an incorrect Form 1099-R. According to the IRS, in that case you should still try and contact your employer and have them correct it. However, if you fail to receive the corrected form by February 14th, you should call the IRS at 800-829-1040. For more info, click here. See; sometimes the IRS can be reasonable. Well, at least they can if you're not the one who made the mistake. Photo Credit: H. Michael Karshis ...

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Should Low-Income Drivers Receive Subsidies to Use Toll Express Lanes?

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Every day on my way home from work I zip by tens of thousands of people behind the wheels of cars stuck in hopelessly gridlocked traffic because they didn't want to pay the toll (usually between $2 and $10, depending on the direction and time of day) for the open express lanes. For me, the money spent every day for the right to avoid 10 miles of traffic hell is money well-spent.   I currently spend about $1000 each year for the privilege of driving unimpeded and, truth be told, I would gladly spend double that if I had to. Those express toll lanes are a beautiful thing - without them I would not be able to endure my daily 38 mile commute and I would most likely be forced to leave my employer of many years to take a much lower paying job closer to home. Not everybody thinks they are a good deal. In fact, a lot of people argue that paid toll lanes are inherently unfair to low-income drivers.   They wonder why those who make less money should have to endure a hellish commute while others who can afford to pay for it get to whiz by in relative comfort. A joint study conducted in 2008 by UCLA and USC actually seems to disprove that line of thought. According to the study, pay-as-you-go transportation options like toll express lanes are actually fairer to all income levels than paying for road improvements such as additional express lanes through sales taxes alone. While the study found that toll express lanes are disproportionately used by middle- and upper-middle-income households, it also found that those same drivers would have ended up paying less each year if the lanes would have been funded via their sales taxes. What troubles me is the study authors' suggestion that policymakers worried about low-income peak-period commuters could provide discounted subsidy pricing based on income levels, or provide travel credits to lower-income commuters. Of course, such a suggestion poses another problem. Since the only way to keep the express lanes flowing smoothly is to raise the prices during times of peak use, the implementation of subsidies would result in other drivers being priced out of the lanes in favor of the subsidized lower-income drivers.     How fair is that? As usual, when it comes to subsidies and hand-outs there is no free lunch. Somebody is always going to have to pay. ...

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